Faster than a speeding grace note.
More powerful than a minivan full of kids.
Able to read complex scores at a single glance.

Look! In the carpool lane!
It's a mom! It's a musician! It's SuperAlto!

Monday, September 6, 2010

The Moms' Team At Work

Yesterday morning's Orinda Idol rehearsal with the girls turned into a protracted brainstorming session with the moms.

Last night, as soon as the announcement about equipment came out, I e-mailed the organizers about the mic problem, and was told that it couldn't be changed. This morning, we e-mailed and called some other people that we thought might be more helpful, but their hands were tied, and they couldn't help us. M's mom called our choreographer (daughter of the original contest organizer), and found that she was in the same panicked state that we were. She and five of her friends are competing in the next age category, and they had also counted on the four mics available at the audition.

We ran the girls through their choreography without mics in their hands, and we all agreed it looked really bad. So, the decision was made to make dummy mics: props that were big and shiny, and would give them something to hold in their hands, while the actual sound was picked up by mics on stands. Which then led to discussion about where to place the mics, as I have been very carefully balancing their sound this summer, and having them move around the mics was going to create problems. I started researching mic placement (asking people with show choir experience, since I only perform classical music), and other moms went to Michael's to start work on the new props.

In the late afternoon, we finally received some good news: the girls will be allowed to use the emcee's mic, so they are going to have four wireless mics after all! The girls' choreographer appealed to her mom, pointing out that while the high school girls were fine with the change, it wasn't fair to the "little girls" to make them change their choreography this close to the performance. (My daughter laughed at being characterized as a "little girl," because she is a very dignified eleven-year-old, but she agreed that whatever works is good!) It went up the chain from there, and now we have enough mics. Thank you, thank you, thank you N!